A meeting of heroes

"I still don't understand, why you?"

"I wish I knew why it was me."

"When did you even meet?"

"Ah... that was a long time ago now, three years almost. Just give me a second and I'll tell you."

---

The villain stood at the center of the bank, almost archetypal in the way he roared and goaded on his underlings. The cliche is everyone being on the floor, but we all stood to one side. There were three armed men between us and freedom, it was enough. Someone behind me was praying, but I was just concerned with keeping myself between my sister and those gunmen.

Next thing I knew, the guys running into the vault were flying out of the vault. There was watchword, even back then she had such a penchant for leather, a black leather trench coat over her black and red leather corset and pants. I latter found out the mask was made of silk, with a plastic piece inside it to maintain the shape. Of course she got in the first shot against the big bad, but soon enough they were exchanging blows.

Two of the guys, the ones with big magazines thankfully, got spooked and made a run for it. The third though, you could see it in his eyes, he wasn't leaving without his share of blood. I knew he had a wasted a few bullets into the ceiling, and I was pretty sure he'd shot one of the guards, so no way he had full clip. But how many shots left, I couldn't tell. No time to rush him, he just started firing. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. I caught em, I had enough speed for that and he was telegraphing his shots pretty well. Problem was number eight, that fraction of a second too soon after seven, at just the wrong arc.

My hand came up and my eyes followed it passing over my fingers. Bam, straight into Watchword's grip. It was so fast I don't think anyone else noticed, but she whispered in my ear, "good job, hun." I saw her eyes at that moment, it was just... it was like we were looking into each other's soul, you know. So she zipped past me to clear out the scumbag, at which point the whole lot of hostages fell over themselves trying to get out. I stayed behind, didn't really know why at the time, but I think now it's because I'd already figured her out a bit.

She stood for a long time over the bodies of the guards, I don't know if she was praying or saying sorry but her lips were moving without any sound coming out. I acted on impulse, embraced her from behind to try and comfort her a bit. We stood there for what felt like a long time, she and I, me holding and her being held. Then she turned and picked me up and carried me out the way she'd come, before the police could waylay us.

Her hideout was... incredible. I'd never been one to dream of seeing the inside, but after being in it I've certainly dreamed of it since. We cooked together, even though we still hadn't said a word, but every so often our eyes would meet and we'd smile. It's hard to say in words, we just... fit. I finally got my courage up to talking during the meal, of course she wasn't wearing the mask at this point so it felt more like a regular conversation.

After dinner we talked for a while longer, sitting on this great big soft couch she had. Of course talking led to cuddling, cuddling led to kissing, kissing led to... other things. I left in the morning, not even blindfolded or anything, but in the end I never did go back, it all seemed so surreal. But I never forgot, and after a while I started to regret leaving. When I tried to go back she'd totally moved out, the place was just a big empty dust bin at that point.

Well, you know how our next meeting went. I can't really stand to think about it at this point. Anyways I'm heading back in to get some sleep. You can use the couch if you want, I'll even grab you some blankets. Just... let's not talk about this anymore for a while.